Sprint given more time to shut down offending Nextel networks

Sprint has been cheating IPCS so long that it is good that they finally have to comply with the verdict. The whole Nextel system is so antiquated, slow and unreliable that it ought to be shut down all over not just in IPCS territory!!! Nextel used to be a great product and a great company but since the merger it has become pretty much worthless with nothing innovative. Maybe that is why Sprint is losing over a million customers a quarter!

At the rate Sprint Nextel is losing subscribers, a court order in not required to shut down Nexetl down. Fleeing subscribers will shut it down.

Chris you are so great. Thanks for all your help. The ONLY Reason Im even considering staying with Sprint, is because I don't want your efforts to go unrecognized. That, and I don't want you to feel that you have wasted your time trying to keep me. You are greatly appreciated, and again the ONLY person whom has ever taken the time to listen to my complaints; with a willingness to correct the problem.

That being said, I Cant Stand sprint... The customer service is horrendous. I have been with the company for roughly 5 years if not longer. At one point I shared and account with someone else. Sprint USED to be great. No dropped calls. Friendly voices on the other end, and plans that were suitable for every person.

I have continually called customer service over the past 2-3 years, only to get some foreign person on the other end. They can't understand me, and I can't understand them. What is the logic in this? By the time the conversation has ended I cant tell who is more frustrated, me? Or the Representative? Not to mention, the call was doomed and pointless as soon as we herd one another's voice. Who is the idiot that wanted to save money choosing quantity, over quality?

I've been in every aspect of service industry, and customer service, in multiple businesses, since I was a child. Provided that I have run many different venus myself, I feel I have just cause; to state my opinion considering, I'm educated rather then ignorant. That being said, and my point; I would much rather pay more money, to fewer employees, whom are educated for the largest market I have buying my product. Thus resulting in, a higher percentage of customer satisfaction.

On the latter, it is duly noted that Sprint has such a KIND nature as to hire, an over seas foreign man so he can practice his dialect. Then again, I suppose getting 'quantity' for 10 dollars an hour rather then 18 dollars an hour is what Sprint is going for, right? Do your customers a favor, and make the 'test' your bi-lingual employees have to pass, a bit harder. If thats too much to ask, can we please get an 'option' at the prompt of my call..... How bout ... ''Please press 1 for a Sprint Representative that you can communicate clearly with''

I would like to note, my comments have nothing to do with race. My intention is not to offend anyone. I'm merely trying to point out what can not be taught, Common Sense.

I currently have 3 cell phone lines with sprint. Why? One for personal, one for business. The third one was acquired because, I could not understand the lady on the other end representing, Sprint's Customer Service. What I thought was a plan for more minutes, and an up graded free phone for my 'loyalty' was exactly that. More minutes, a free phone, AND a third line, a second plan and a bill that was 300 dollars a month!

So in order to fix this, I then had to put the third line on a seasonal plan. Move my first 2 lines on to the second plan, I got for more minutes. Get rid of my fair and flexible plan. Pay to keep the third line off! and pay 9.99 extra every month to have all 3 phones on one plan. OTHERWISE, I would have to pay 200 dollars per phone to get out of my, I forgot to mention, 'CONTRACT' that I also acquired with this wonderful new plan. (Yes thats sarcasm)

Shortly after, a lady calls asking if I would like to renew my contract for 2 more years. BECAUSE I WAS SUCH A LOYAL CUSTOMER, they would give me 10% off my bill every month if I agreed. Conveniently, this lady spoke great english. Matter of fact, she had me fooled, 20 bucks says she is from America. Needless to say, that was a year ago and I have seen NOTHING.
Of course I called customer service to inquire, as always it ended in me hanging up because the representative and I had a hard time 'communicating'. Go figure.

Shortly after that, with normal wear and tear my phone decides its had enough. At the time I was broke, and activated an old phone that was given to me by a friend. Conveniently, I had a free upgrade on my plan but was never told until a month later when I called asking about it. I was then told that because I activated another, older phone, that happened to work, I could no longer get my upgrade!

Now a year and a half later, in present day.... Remember that handy free phone I got? After normal wear and tear, this one chooses to break. No, not from being dropped, thrown, etc. After plugging in my charger everyday, the adapting piece that gives a charging connection breaks inside. How is this in my control? Yet, after paying full insurance, every month, might I mention ; I pay for all coverage's, lost, stolen, water, everything! I still have to pay 50 dollars for a REFURBISHED PHONE! Are you kidding me?

It gets better. The refurbished phone that comes in, is broken! Apparently the phone will not get a connecting charge, and keeps turning on and off. Sound familiar? I am then told I now have to wait a few more days for ANOTHER refurbished phone. I then ask...

''You have just given me a phone that was already broken, which is clearly still broken. I now have to wait, for someone else's broken phone to come in the mail? Cross my fingers that, that one isn't broken, and hope that 3 months down the road it wont break again?''

I don't know why I expected anything more then, the blank stare that was given from the store representative. I was obviously too realistic for him to comprehend a response of honesty, saying, 'Yep your pretty much right.' At least then I would have been happy to know, I was being understood.

So thank you Chris for coming to my rescue. You immediately were playing damage control. As insistent as I was, and am, about still leaving Sprint your efforts have yet to cease. Will you ask your boss what took him so long to hire you? You are too good to work for sprint, however it is blatantly obvious you are an asset to the company. If Sprint ever looses you, serves them right, Karma is a Bitch.

One last thing, although it has no comparison to the above complaints... I get more dropped calls then anyone I know. Always in the same spots, random spots, but all the time is the point. I cant stand that.

Im going to leave here and get ready for my second job. lol! Its been a long day. Ill be in tomorrow to see how much we can correct. Thank you again and feel free to contact me at any time if you have any other questions.

Julie

> Julie,
>
> This is what I found about your account, the 14** line is out of
> contract, the 17** contract expires 2/7/2010, and the 27** line
> expires 8/24/2009. Ok, hit me will all the complaint stuff so that I
> can get it too port-out prevention. Also like i mentioned yesterday I
> will be wanting to change your plan, it will not extend your contracts
> or anything. Tell me what your last couple of bills have been, you
> should be able to pull it off their website. If you have not logged on
> before you can stop in here and I will set it up and figure out which
> plan will be the best for you at the best price, plus I will be
> working on that discount for you too. Understand that I will do what
> ever I can to keep you from going to another provider. So get back
> with me on all the complaint stuff asap.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Christopher S. Cotton
>
> ps. Be carefull out there.
>

"The whole Nextel system is so antiquated."

THAT IS BS, ALL THE HARDWARE IN THE NEXTEL SYSTEM LESS THEN 4 YEARS OLD NOW, WE UPGRADED JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING. THE LIFE SPAN FOR A MOTOROLA RADIO IS 20 YEARS.

Many of the BTS (CDMA) sites are older than the Nextel stuff. I have many sites in my market, CDMA that are almost 8 years old. If anything the CDMA BTS's are ready for an UPGRADE!

Before you morons start spewing bogus facts around you should at least have a handle on some basic facts.

Also iDEN is not that old, it only has 402 days on CDMA. CDMA and iDEN are almost the same age technology wise. The problem with the iDEN network in the USA is spectrum. So carriers and South America are getting WiDEN speeds as fast as EVDO rev. A. Sprint Nextel does not own the spectrum to make WiDEN work as well as it can.

Please educate yourselves on iDEN before you talk trash about it!

"The whole Nextel system is so antiquated."

THAT IS BS, ALL THE HARDWARE IN THE NEXTEL SYSTEM LESS THEN 4 YEARS OLD NOW, WE UPGRADED JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING. THE LIFE SPAN FOR A MOTOROLA RADIO IS 20 YEARS.

Many of the BTS (CDMA) sites are older than the Nextel stuff. I have many sites in my market, CDMA that are almost 8 years old. If anything the CDMA BTS's are ready for an UPGRADE!

Before you morons start spewing bogus facts around you should at least have a handle on some basic facts.

Also iDEN is not that old, it only has 402 days on CDMA. CDMA and iDEN are almost the same age technology wise. The problem with the iDEN network in the USA is spectrum. So carriers and South America are getting WiDEN speeds as fast as EVDO rev. A. Sprint Nextel does not own the spectrum to make WiDEN work as well as it can.

Please educate yourselves on iDEN before you talk trash about it!

I agree to some extent with the last comment. Sprint is suffering from some immense difficulties. Dan Hesse has done some things to right the ship. The economy is still floundering coupled with alot of consumers losing their jobs. The Iphone along with the announcement of new phones from other carriers almost weekly and monthly makes competition fierce among the top four and you could add a couple of others too. A lot of misrepresentation against Sprint doesn't help either. It has two robust networks. Yes, they are having difficulty marrying the two. I have a Nextel and an Instinct. My only complaint is when the phone falls apart. I've been a customer of theirs for over seven years. Every thing that I use on both phones work fine for me. I don't have any dropped calls and most of my direct connect calls go through except if there is heavy direct connect traffic. Which isn't unusual to me. The internet works fine, no problems with emails, text messages or sending messages in general. It's a perception problem that Sprint is facing. Customer Service does need improvement. Maybe, Sprint should resort to gimmickry like the other carriers. It works for Verizon - Maybe Sprint should do the same. As long as these obstacles are in the way - Sprint will not be able to catch its breath. I definately don't want my cell phone company to go under but the difficulties are immense.....Lastly, I hear over and over again that Sprint needs better phones. What are these better phones? What do they do differently then the ones they have now? I don't get it. Every thing their phones do all the rest do. The biggest culprit in a phone failure is handling and normal wear and tear. I didn't know that Sprint phones just fail after using them for a little while. But I could be wrong. Truthfully, It doesn't matter if you replace Dan - Sprint will never get away from these perceptions and bad press. Only a miracle could help them and I don't see any soon....